Centre Proposes To Increase Speed Limit On Indian Highways

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the road transport ministry should consider raising the highway speed limit to 100km/h and on upcoming expressways to 120km/h.

Published: Friday, June 23, 2017, 16:01 [IST]

Soon you could hit a top speed of 120km/h on expressways if Union Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari has his way.

Presently, only 165km of the Yamuna Expressway which connects Delhi to Agra has a 100km/h speed limit. All national highways (NHs) across India have a speed limit of 80km/h.

Speed Limit On Highways To Be Increased From 100 To 120 kmph

A highways ministry official said, "The minister said that with the quality of highways improving and better quality of automobiles being manufactured, it is time that the speed cap on our highways is increased. We are in the process of making a formal proposal,"

The central government has already proposed to construct 1,000 km of access-controlled expressways. Work has begun on some stretches, such as Delhi-Meerut and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.

Many other countries, like in the U.S., several states such as Texas have allowed a top speed of up to 137km/h. However, road infrastructure is way ahead in engineering and technology compared to Indian roads.

Several road safety experts believe that the poor safety standards on Indian roads witness the highest road accident deaths in the world. In 2015, almost five lakh road accidents were reported in India. Speeding estimated for 44 percent of a traffic accident deaths.

DriveSpark Thinks!

Increasing the speed limit of vehicles on highways and expressway is the right way forward. However, the road infrastructure has to improve drastically in India. Once the infrastructure is in place and on par with international standards, the speed limit can be increased to safe levels.

Via HindustanTimes